Content Delivery Networks (CDNs): Trends & Benefits

Over the last four to five years, the method in which content is delivered through the Internet has changed dramatically. The volume of traffic now served by content delivery networks (CDNs) accounts for more than half of all consumer traffic, according to a preliminary report done by Deepfield. This is a significant increase from their last report in 2009, when CDNs were merely considered a “nicety.” While there are a few different CDN providers, the Akamai Edge Network is the most popular by traffic volume during peak times. CDNs like Akamai have swiftly overtaken the Internet as the primary method of content delivery because of the many benefits they provide to companies who need to reach a global market. From decreased latency to scalability, CDNs provide an ease of use for many companies, allowing them to reach a global market with relatively little fuss.

Benefits of a CDN

Enable Global Reach CDNs provide local points of presence (POPs) across the globe, allowing companies to deliver content and provide online transactions without having to worry about latency issues for their customers.

High Availability With content distributed across the globe and stored on strategically located core servers and edge servers, a large outage or failure won’t cause downtime. Instead, the CDN will send the content along the next best channel to your customer, ensuring 100% uptime and availability.

Decreased Latency POPs are deployed in strategically located data centers across the globe, allowing your content to be sent via the quickest route. Your website’s visitors will experience faster load times and improved stream quality, allowing you to deliver high definition content without overloading the network.

High Capacity and Scalability Multiple servers give you greatly expanded bandwidth to deliver your content to a much larger number of concurrent users. The servers can also easily process traffic surges of all kinds.

Visitor Analytics Not only do CDNs deliver content at a fast pace, but they also offer analytical information for content producers. Analytics such as real time leads and statistics, discovering which assets are popular, seeing active regions, and exact viewing details can help create a better visitor experience.

The last handful of years of increased CDN usage are proof of how useful the networks are to companies who are expanding their customer base globally. Instead of investing in infrastructure and foreign services, CDNs allow companies to purchase a single plan and reach a global market through an established network. As an Akamai client, Liquid Web provides our customers with the world’s largest and most experienced CDN. With a global reach rivaling anything available, as well as our 24/7/365 Heroic Support, we’re confident we can find a plan that fits your needs.

If you’re interested in learning more about CDNs at Liquid Web or have something to add to the conversation, leave a comment below, Live Chat our team, or call us at 1-800-580-4985.

Kerri Molitor, a Marketing Generalist at Liquid Web, has more than 6 years of experience in Marketing, Communications, and Journalism. Her goal at Liquid Web is to create real, valuable content that helps our current and potential customers. Her passions include writing content that engages with our customers in a personal way and helps ease their pain points.